The Human Immune System

Video

What is the immune system?

The bodys defense against disease causing
organisms, malfunctioning cells, and
foreign particles

The First Line of Defense

~Skin~
- The dead, outer layer
of skin, known as the
epidermis, forms a
shield against
invaders and secretes
chemicals that kill
potential invaders
- You shed between 40
50 thousand skin
cells every day!

The First Line of Defense

~Mucus and Cilia~
- As you breathe in,
foreign particles and
bacteria bump into
mucus throughout your
respiratory system and
become stuck
- Hair-like structures
called cilia sweep this
mucus into the throat
for coughing or
swallowing
Dont swallowed bacteria have a
good chance of infecting you?

The First Line of Defense

~Saliva~
Whats the first thing you do when you cut
your finger?

- Saliva contains many

chemicals that break down
bacteria
- Thousands of different types
of bacteria can survive these
chemicals, however

The First Line of Defense

~Stomach Acid~
- Swallowed bacteria are
broken down by incredibly
strong acids in the stomach
that break down your food
- The stomach must produce a
coating of special mucus or
this acid would eat through
the stomach!

Think of the human body as a

hollow plastic tube

The food is digested within the hole in the

tube, but it never actually enters into the
solid plastic material.
Tube inner surface
~Digestive System~

Tube outer surface

~Skin~

Plastic interior
~Body~

Escherichia coli
is common and plentiful in all of our
digestive tracts. Why are we all not
sick?
- These bacteria are
technically outside the
body and aid in digesting
material we cannot
- Only if E.Coli are
introduced in an unnatural
manner can they break
through the first line of
defense and harm us

The Second Line of Defense

~White Blood Cells~
- If invaders actually
get within the body,
then your white blood
cells (WBCs) begin
their attack
- WBCs normally
circulate throughout
the blood, but will
enter the bodys
tissues if invaders are
detected
Video

White Blood Cells

~Phagocytes~
These white blood cells are
responsible for eating
foreign particles by
engulfing them
Once engulfed, the
phagocyte breaks the
foreign particles apart in
organelles called ________
Lysosomes

Where could invaders

hide from phagocytes?

Viruses
Viruses enter body cells, hijack their organelles, and turn
the cell into a virus making-factory. The cell will
eventually burst, releasing thousands of viruses to infect
new cells.

Cell before infection

and after.

The Second Line of Defense

~Interferon~

- Virus-infected body
cells release
interferon when an
invasion occurs
- Interferon chemical
that interferes with the
ability to viruses to
attack other body cells

What happens to already

infected cells?

White Blood Cells

~T-Cells~
natural killer cells,
recognize infected human
cells and cancer cells
NK cells will attack these
infected cells, quickly kill
them, and then continue to
search for more cells to kill

The Second Line of Defense

~The Inflammatory Response~

- Injured body cells release

chemicals called
histamines, which begin
inflammatory response
- Capillaries dilate
- Pyrogens released, reach
hypothalamus, and
temperature rises
- Pain receptors activate
- WBCs flock to infected area
like sharks to blood

Two Divisions of the Immune

System
- The efforts of the WBCs known as
phagocytes and T-cells is called the cellmediated immune system.
- Protective factor = living cells
- Phagocytes eat invaders
- T-cells kill invaders

Two Divisions of the Immune

System
The other half of the immune system is
called antibody-mediated immunity, aka
humoral response meaning that is
controlled by macromolecules such as
antibodies
This represents the third line of defense in
the immune system

The Third Line of Defense

~Antibodies~
- Most infections never make it
past the first and second levels
of defense
- Those that do trigger the
production and release of
antibodies
- Proteins that latch onto, damage,
clump, and slow foreign particles
- Each antibody binds only to one
specific binding site, known as an
antigen

Antibody Production
- WBCs gobble up invading
particles and break them up
- They show the particle
pieces to Helper T-cells,
who identify the pieces and
find specific B-cells to help
- B-cells produce antibodies
that are equipped to find
that specific piece on a new
particle and attach

Video - 1:58

Immunity
- New particles take longer
to identify, and a person
remains ill until a new
antibody can be crafted
- Old particles are quickly
recognized, and a person
may never become ill from
that invader again. This
person is now immune.

What is immunity?
- Resistance to a disease causing organism or
harmful substance
- Two types
- Active Immunity
- Passive Immunity

Active Immunity
- You produce the antibodies
- Your body has been exposed to the antigen in
the past either through:
- Exposure to the actual disease causing antigen
You fought it, you won, you remember it
- Planned exposure to a form of the antigen that has
been killed or weakened You detected it,
eliminated it, and remember it
What is this second type of
exposure called?

Vaccine
Antigens are deliberately introduced into the
immune system to produce immunity
Because the bacteria has been killed or weakened,
minimal symptoms occur
Have eradicated or severely limited several
diseases from the face of the Earth, such as polio
and smallpox

How long does active immunity

last?
It depends on the antigen
Some disease-causing
bacteria multiply into new
forms that our body doesnt
recognize, requiring annual
vaccinations, like the flu shot
Booster shot - reminds the
immune system of the antigen
Others last for a lifetime, such
as chicken pox

Think the flu is no big deal?

- Think again
- In 1918, a particularly
deadly strain of flu, called
the Spanish Influenza,
spread across the globe
- It infected 20% of the
human population and
killed 5%, which came
out to be about 100
million people

Do we get all the possible

vaccines we can?
Although the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) recommends certain
vaccines, many individuals go
without them
Those especially susceptible include
travelers and students
Consider the vaccine for meningitis,
which is recommended for all
college students and infects 3,000
people in the U.S., killing 300
annually

Link

Passive Immunity
You dont produce the
antibodies
A mother will pass immunities
on to her baby during pregnancy
- through what organ?
These antibodies will protect the
Placentaof time
baby for a short period
following birth while its
immune system develops. What
endocrine gland is responsible
for this?
Lasts until antibodies die
Thymus

Why doesnt the mother just

pass on the WBCs that
remember the antigens?

Immune Disorders
~Allergies~
- Immune system mistakenly
recognizes harmless foreign
particles as serious threats
- Launches immune response,
which causes sneezing, runny
nose, and watery eyes
- Anti-histamines block effect of
histamines and bring relief to
allergy sufferers

Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Caused by the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus
Discovered in 1983
Specifically targets and kills
T-cells
Because normal body cells are
unaffected, immune response
is not launched

AIDS
~The Modern Plague~

- The HIV virus doesnt kill you

it cripples your immune system
- With your immune system shut
down, common diseases that
your immune system normally
could defeat become lifethreatening
- Can show no effects for several
months all the way up to 10
years

AIDS
~The Silent Spread~

Transmitted
by sexual
contact, blood
transfusions,
contaminated
needles
As of 2007, it
affects an
estimated 33.2
million people